Blog, Resources
Employees are given much responsibility and are essential to running a business. That can also create a significant risk. Employee theft is a big issue that small business owners face in the United States. According to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), nearly two-thirds of small businesses fall victim to employee theft and forty percent of employee theft is monetary.
Most businesses that do have issues of employee theft will not seek legal action. Only sixteen percent of companies report employee theft to police because companies don’t believe it’s worth their time to pursue it. Large companies may think it’s not worth their trouble, but smaller businesses take a harder hit and can’t risk it. There are many ways to be proactive to stop employee theft before it even happens.
Check Background
Criminal background checks are one way to prevent hiring employees with records of employee theft. While there is no way to protect against employee theft or prevent first-time offenders entirely, the best way to prevent employee theft is to make smart hiring decisions.
Knowing the background of your applicant can be your greatest indicator of the ability to do their job with honesty and integrity. The only way to truly know is to check their criminal and work history for specific incidents that indicate such behavior. By conducting criminal background checks on job candidates, a company can be sure that applicants don’t have any previous record of misusing company property.
Check References
Although criminal background checks will give you valuable information about an applicant’s criminal history, a character reference check is the best way to get others’ perceptions of your applicant. References will give you information on the applicant’s character. This is essential information when making a hiring decision that will reflect on your business and ethical values.
It’s a good idea to consistently look out for any red flags, such as unexplained debt or missing financial records throughout employment.
SELECTiON.COM® will develop a pre-employment and post-employment system to mitigate the risk of employee theft. Our pre-employment background check options along with our Quarterly Watch®, which can be run yearly as well, will help keep you on the right track.
Contact us today to see how SELECTiON.COM® can take your employment background check process to the next level.
NOTE: The contents of this article are not legal advice for your particular situation. You should neither act nor rely upon anything stated in this article without first consulting your legal counsel.
Back to Basics, Blog, Resources
Editor’s Note: We’re excited to announce our new “Back to the Basics” series, wherein we’ll take an in-depth look at some of the ins and outs of the background check industry. We’re starting off this week with a behind the scenes view of criminal research featuring one of our in-house researchers, Chelsea Swartz.
The sun is beaming and a breeze blows by as Chelsea and Sabrina Schnetzer, Social Media Specialist, step into a courthouse in Kentucky. The police officers there see Chelsea every day and greet her by name.
Sabrina is here to job shadow Chelsea Swartz, Criminal Research and Document Retrieval Specialist, for the day. They walk into the courthouse and go through a metal detector, head up three flights of stairs, and turn a corner. They arrive at the public access terminal with a few computers at desks.
What is a public access terminal?
A public access terminal is a service provided by the courts, for litigants and the public to access dockets, case reports, and other documents filed in county courts. These terminals are located inside each county courthouse. Citizens can typically search by name and date of birth for criminal records on any individual at these courthouse public access computers.
Although you would think that most public access terminals are accessed electronically, there are actually still some out there that are clerk-based. A clerk is an officer of the court whose main responsibility is to maintain records of the court. Counties that require clerk-based criminal research typically have processes that include providing a list of names to be searched and then waiting days or weeks for them to return the results. Some counties even still use ledger books or microfilm to store court records.
Criminal Record Database Search
From there, Chelsea sits down at one of the public access terminal computers and begins to work. She pulls out her list of applicants she received earlier that day and starts typing the names into the criminal records search. On a typical day, Chelsea may have around 300 applicant names to run criminal background checks on.
If Chelsea finds a criminal record in one of her searches, she makes a note of it. From there, she will write down information about the case including the case number, disposition date, filing date, charge description and sentencing information.
Chelsea transcribes case information from the criminal records database into our system, so it is readily available for our in-house team. The case information is then sent to quality assurance where they mark it complete and make it available to our clients. Sometimes cases need more information that is not accessible online, so Chelsea copies physical files from the court records and brings them into our office.
Did you know?
Did you know that each county has its own criminal records database, which is more accurate and up to date than the state’s criminal database? County criminal databases are more precise than the state’s, because cases are tried at the county level and then passed on to the state at their leisure.
SELECTiON.COM® has a nationwide network of court researchers in order to complete the thousands of requests we receive in a day. Since we are located in Cincinnati, our local clients get the added benefit of our in-house research team. We have employees who physically go into the county courthouses in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
We hope you enjoyed seeing a behind the scenes of a day in the life of Chelsea, criminal researcher extraordinaire. Stay tuned to read more “Back to the Basics” articles.
Contact us today to see how SELECTiON.COM® can improve your background check process.
Blog
by Wayne J. Jung
“That statement alone sends shivers through many of our applicants, especially those with something to hide who fear the disclosure will cost them their chance at a job.”
That’s what an HR director recently told me as we were discussing the type of background checks that their company needed in order to do a better job assessing the quality of the candidates that they were considering for employment.
This particular company previously had been hiring solely based upon a number of factors, not one of which included a background check. Their approach was similar to buying a new car:
- Curb Appeal – How does the candidate look and act when they arrive for the interview?
- New Car Smell – Are they factory fresh, or a used clunker with the rust spots hidden?
- Test Drive – How do they handle the “tough questions” during the interview itself?
- Reviews – Can anyone within the company personally vouch for the candidate and do their references check out?
My phone rings often throughout the day with calls from small to medium-sized companies wanting to implement some sort of background check, but not having any idea what they really need, or where to even begin.
And frankly it can be a bit overwhelming.
Most background checks begin with a simple Social Security Number (SSN) trace to determine validity of the given SSN and to map a residency history for the applicant.
From there a more thorough criminal check may be used to discover any history of bad behavior that could place the company at risk, or the current employees themselves.
Verifications of prior employment, education and personal references are almost becoming a necessity with the increased amount of resume falsification in today’s job market.
Will they be handling any money in their new role?
Include a Federal Criminal Report to uncover any white collar criminal history, or a credit report containing information such as civil judgments, tax liens, bankruptcies, credit and payment history.
Will they be given a company vehicle, or will they drive as part of their job responsibility?
A Motor Vehicle Records search provides license validity, suspensions and driving violations depending on the state in question, with the information provided adhering to each state’s specifications.
There is a background check for any specific position or need within any corporate, educational, non-profit, healthcare, manufacturing, retail and staffing environment in the marketplace. And if not, one can always be created to meet a specific need.
Hiring is tough. Background checks are easy.
At SELECTiON.COM®, we specialize in making it the least stressful part of your day.
So, whether you NEED a background check as part of your job application process, or you WANT to start from scratch, why don’t you give us a call and kick the tires today?
Blog
SELECTiON.COM® is now officially a government certified veteran-owned small business.
While SELECTiON.COM® has always been veteran-owned, they now have the stamp of approval from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. This certifies that SELECTiON.COM® was founded by former members of the United States Armed Forces. 
In order to qualify for certification a business must not only be owned by a veteran but a veteran must be in charge of day-to-day operations.
“Maintaining high standards and mission completion are traits that I learned serving as a First Sergeant. As a company SELECTiON.COM® has standards that are higher than anyone in our industry with a mission focus of putting the customer first in everything we do.” says John Hart, Chairman of SELECTION.COM®
SELECTiON.COM® also sponsors Team Fastrax, a professional skydiving team, committed to supporting the veteran community. The team has a roster of more than twenty-nine active members, with a collective of more than 300,000 skydives.
Team Fastrax is comprised of veterans from all branches of the Armed Forces. This year each of Team Fastrax’s 320 jumps will be dedicated to a different fallen hero.
SELECTiON.COM® is proud to support our nation’s military servicemen and women, veterans and their families.
https://www.va.gov/osdbu/
http://teamfastrax.com/
SELECTiON.COM® is a nationwide provider of criminal and pre-employment background screenings, also referred to as a Consumer Reporting Agency. Headquartered in Cincinnati, OH, SELECTiON.COM® is a veteran-owned company that has been in business since 1991 and offers more than 21 background and data collection services.
Blog
In today’s world, where information is extremely important, how do you know you’re getting the correct information? Especially when you are making hiring decisions based off of this information. 
One major component is to make sure you’re entering and providing the most accurate information possible. A single typo can throw off the whole background screening process.
So, how do you know you have the correct information on an individual? Some rely solely on trusting the applicant, while others check photo ID’s to confirm the information. However, retrieving the correct information is only the first step. The second step is making sure to enter the correct information.
Some background checks run on Name and Date of Birth or through Social Security Numbers. If one letter or number is incorrect, it could possibly skew the results in their entirety. This could be the difference between a great hire and risky hire that could potentially be a liability to the company.
Since there is no way to tell if the information provided is inaccurate, the system is going to run the full background check report with the name and information you provided. If a typo is missed or you enter the wrong data, we have to start the request over from the beginning. Both scenarios cost additional time and money to correct.
At SELECTiON.COM® we stress the importance of reviewing this vital information. Before you can submit an applicant for screening you should check the review page to make sure everything has been entered correctly. It’s important for both applicants and employers to understand how important correct information can be.
We do this because the correct information is so vital to complete an accurate background check. Always remember, the information you receive is only as good as the information you provide.
